Best Alternatives to Snipping Tools for Win/Mac

The process to capture just one part of your screen used to be quite cumbersome. You would have to hit the print screen button, navigate to wherever the screenshot was saved, open it up in a graphics editing program, crop, cut and tweak the picture as you saw fit, save it again and then finally use it in your project or presentation. These days, snipping tools are readily available and make the entire process much easier. After trying out quite a few snipping tools, they liked these for their ease-of-use and features.

Similar Free Alternative - Jing (Win/Mac)

2-4 Mins

Very Easy

Capture&Edit

This program is made by TechSmith, which is the same company that develops Snagit, so technically it is just the lite version of its more capable big brother. One drawback is that an account with Screencast.com is required to use it. However, if you are interested in sharing your screen casts, this may be a benefit rather than a detractor.

Again, this program doesn’t really have an interface. Instead you get a yellow button at the top of your screen that can be activated to capture the screen, see your screenshot history or access its additional features. You can still use this program to by dragging the edges of a box you draw. Instead of a full editor, you simply get the ability to add a few arrows, simple shapes and highlight things.

Jing is available for both Windows and Mac and it is completely free.

Free Alternative to Snipping

2-4 Mins

Simple

Screenshot/Record

Screen Grabber Free is considered as one of the most suitable Snipping alternative that can work both on Windows and Mac OS. It comes with an intuitive interface so that you can finish all the work without any hassles. 3 different capture modes: Full Screen, Region and Window are provided to make screenshot capturing easier than ever. Moreover, you can schedule a screenshot task to create screenshots of you computer screen with a customized interval. Apart from being a screenshot grabber, it can also record anything shown on your computer as videos and save them in popular video formats for playing and sharing anywhere you like.

As a freeware, the functions are limited. If you need to annotate the screenshot with basic editing functions, record video with audio simultaneously, upload and share screenshots online, etc., you can turn to the pro version of this screen grabber – Screen Grabber Pro, which provides some more powerful functions to meet your multimedia needs.

Better Free Alternative - Greenshot (Win Only)

3-5 Mins

Intermedia

Open Source

If you think the tiny toolbar of the previous program is unnoticeable, Greenshot doesn’t have one at all. Instead, it works with your system’s existing Print Screen key. Instead of just taking a basic screenshot when you get it, you will get a crosshair so you can select the part of the screen you want to save. Once that’s complete, options about where to save or send it are shown. These include direct delivery to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Imgur, Paint or the very basic editor included in the Greenshot program. All you can do with it is to add an arrow or line to the screenshot before saving it. This program is only available for Windows and is free.

Better Free Alternative - PicPick (Win Only)

4-8 Mins

Intermedia

Capture&Edit

This program is also simple to operate although the user interface is lacking. In fact, the screen capture choice is mixed in with other options on the left column so it may take some getting used to. With PicPick, you can get a full-screen image or input how many pixels you want captured or using your mouse or finger to draw the selected area on the screen itself.

For anything but the basic personal use, PicPick falls well behind Snagit in its editing capabilities. This program gives you a protractor and ruler to measure pixels and angles, it even allows you to find screen coordinates. We can’t really think of a purpose for these features. It does give you a white board option so you can add arrows and lines to your screenshot before saving.

PicPick is available for Windows only. It is free for personal use but costs $21.99 if you wish to use it for commercial or professional purposes.

Advanced Alternative - Snagit (Win/Mac)

3-5 Mins

Intermedia

Versatile

If you want to capture or record your screen on a regular basis or need easy included editing features, the Snagit program is absolutely perfect for you. It is unobtrusive; all you get is a tab near the top of your screen with a red button. Whenever you want to capture part of your screen, all you have to do is click and drag to select which part you want to save or record. The feature-rich editor will then appear and you will be able to tweak and improve your screenshot as desired. If you are creating an online course or presentation, you may not even need another program at all because Snagit’s capabilities are so vast.

After editing is complete, this program allows you to export your project to Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Dropbox or Screencast.com. Both Windows and Mac versions are available. There is a 15 day free trial after which the program costs $49.95 to buy.

Advanced Alternative - FastStone (Windows Only)

3-5 mins

Intermedia

Capture&Edit

If your main consideration is unobtrusiveness, FastStone Capture may be perfect for you. It consists of a tiny toolbar with 11 buttons that you can place anywhere on your screen you want. The capabilities of this screenshot capture program are similar to the ones found in other programs. One very unique addition to this program is the ability to take rapid-fire screenshots of a scrolling document or screen, which will then be merged together into a cohesive graphic. This means, you can get the screenshot of a multi-page report or a piece of artwork that isn’t shrunken down so much it’s hard to appreciate.

FastStone Capture is available for Windows only. There is a 30 day free trial, but it is $19.95 to purchase after that.

Natasha

Natasha embraces two careers--one as a content writer and one as a photographer. She is an author who writes with passion on digital stuffs and a photographer who likes to take photos for the landscape. Natasha holds a BIS degree and she contributes to posts on screen capture solutions.